Garment exports plummet in Q4
Cambodian garment exports plummeted 46 percent in the fourth quarter of 2007, capping off a dismal year in one of the country’s key sectors, industry officials said, while warning of future factory closures and job cuts. An economic downturn in the United States, which buys 70 percent of all Cambodian textiles, and continuing labor disputes contributed to the plunge, said Van Sou Ieng, chairman of the Garment Manufacturers’ Association of Cambodia (GMAC). Until last year, the sector had enjoyed annual growth of up to 20 percent. But export growth for all of 2007 stood at only 2.4 percent, representing $2.9 billion, Van Sou Ieng said, adding that the outlook for 2008 "surely was not good." "Definitely some factories will close, some people will lose their jobs," he said. (AFP)
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